The 13th anniversary of this blog is at the end of the month, and it occurs to me a number of years has passed since anyone complained to me about its name, "Every goddamn day." Which means either a) I don't get out as much anymore; b) life in general is coarsening; c) candor is no longer in style; d) all three.
My guess is "d."
The origin story for the name, in case you don't know, is that my column was running four days a week in the Chicago Sun-Times and on Sundays in the New York Daily News. "I'm already writing five days a week," I told my boss, Michael Cooke. "Why don't I write the other two and be the only columnist in the country writing every goddamn day? I even have the advertising slogan for you: "Neil Steinberg, every goddamn day: only in the Sun-Times."
For some reason, he didn't bite at that idea. But I told it to Tom Serafin, the political strategist, and his eyes lit up. He asked: "'Every goddamn day' — do you own that domain name?" I didn't, but hurried from lunch to Go Daddy and bought it.
In the early days, I would occasionally hear from the genuinely hurt, expressing true dismay at this slightly off-color name. I felt truly sorry for them — if you're that sensitive, imagine what a prickly place the world must be.
Once in a great while it caused trouble. When the University of Chicago Press published a book inspired by the blog, "Every Goddamn Day," in 2022, WFMT wouldn't carry advertising for it, and WGN asked me not to mention the title.
Radio stations and newspapers are among the last holdouts in this area, and the scruple leads to inanity. As Exhibit A and Exhibit B, I'd like to offer the headlines from Wednesday Sun-Times and Tribune.
The main headline on the front page of the Sun-Times was, "GRAND JUROR CALLS CASE A CROCK OF S—-" This is how the excremental obscenity usually finds its way into print — as a quote. Remember, Donald Trump called Haiti a "shithole country" in 2018, and many papers, including the Sun-Times, used the quote undashed, nudged forward by presidential prestige I suppose.
Checking our archive, the Sun-Times has printed the word "shit" 181 times since it first appeared in 1996, in a story by my esteemed former colleague Scott Fornek and Sharon Cotliar about a readers forum in Orland Park:
My guess is "d."
The origin story for the name, in case you don't know, is that my column was running four days a week in the Chicago Sun-Times and on Sundays in the New York Daily News. "I'm already writing five days a week," I told my boss, Michael Cooke. "Why don't I write the other two and be the only columnist in the country writing every goddamn day? I even have the advertising slogan for you: "Neil Steinberg, every goddamn day: only in the Sun-Times."
For some reason, he didn't bite at that idea. But I told it to Tom Serafin, the political strategist, and his eyes lit up. He asked: "'Every goddamn day' — do you own that domain name?" I didn't, but hurried from lunch to Go Daddy and bought it.
In the early days, I would occasionally hear from the genuinely hurt, expressing true dismay at this slightly off-color name. I felt truly sorry for them — if you're that sensitive, imagine what a prickly place the world must be.
Once in a great while it caused trouble. When the University of Chicago Press published a book inspired by the blog, "Every Goddamn Day," in 2022, WFMT wouldn't carry advertising for it, and WGN asked me not to mention the title.
Radio stations and newspapers are among the last holdouts in this area, and the scruple leads to inanity. As Exhibit A and Exhibit B, I'd like to offer the headlines from Wednesday Sun-Times and Tribune.
The main headline on the front page of the Sun-Times was, "GRAND JUROR CALLS CASE A CROCK OF S—-" This is how the excremental obscenity usually finds its way into print — as a quote. Remember, Donald Trump called Haiti a "shithole country" in 2018, and many papers, including the Sun-Times, used the quote undashed, nudged forward by presidential prestige I suppose.
Checking our archive, the Sun-Times has printed the word "shit" 181 times since it first appeared in 1996, in a story by my esteemed former colleague Scott Fornek and Sharon Cotliar about a readers forum in Orland Park:
"Bullshit!" yelled Frank Alletto, 80, a retired steel worker from Tinley Park, leaping to his feet to shout down Sullivan. "One guy gets $14 million, and then they lay off 60,000 people. Your corporations are full of shit."
Strong stuff, yes? Anyone crumble reading it? I didn't think so.
The cliche is that standards of conduct grow more slack as the years go by, but that isn't always the case. When I ran a story about Chicago Symphony Orchestra percussionist Cynthia Yeh, quoting her describing how her job is viewed: "“The layman feels it must be so satisfying to beat the shit out of something,” the paper wouldn't run the word undashed (the CSO, for their part, was so aghast to see it come out of the mouth of one of their musicians, they refused to let me continue with a planned series looking at the musicians through their instruments. Like it was my fault she said it. And to think people accuse them of being stuffy).
The Tribune, of course, was worse Wednesday morning, choosing a word that achieved the neat trick of being more than twice as long yet less precise. 'I thought it was a crock of (expletive)'. Of course any reader knows what word goes after "crock of..." They'd have done better with that ellipsis.
The odd thing is, this isn't a president talking, but an anonymous grand juror, moving the story along not at all. Everyone already knew the case was bullshit. The news value of this development is zilch except for the colorful obscenity. Which isn't printed.
An odd business, this, full of quirks. I guess limiting our vocabulary to that of a fairly-sheltered 7-year-0ld is one of them. What's next. "Go to (H-E-Double-Toothpicks)" says Trump." Something to look forward to.
The cliche is that standards of conduct grow more slack as the years go by, but that isn't always the case. When I ran a story about Chicago Symphony Orchestra percussionist Cynthia Yeh, quoting her describing how her job is viewed: "“The layman feels it must be so satisfying to beat the shit out of something,” the paper wouldn't run the word undashed (the CSO, for their part, was so aghast to see it come out of the mouth of one of their musicians, they refused to let me continue with a planned series looking at the musicians through their instruments. Like it was my fault she said it. And to think people accuse them of being stuffy).
The Tribune, of course, was worse Wednesday morning, choosing a word that achieved the neat trick of being more than twice as long yet less precise. 'I thought it was a crock of (expletive)'. Of course any reader knows what word goes after "crock of..." They'd have done better with that ellipsis.
The odd thing is, this isn't a president talking, but an anonymous grand juror, moving the story along not at all. Everyone already knew the case was bullshit. The news value of this development is zilch except for the colorful obscenity. Which isn't printed.
An odd business, this, full of quirks. I guess limiting our vocabulary to that of a fairly-sheltered 7-year-0ld is one of them. What's next. "Go to (H-E-Double-Toothpicks)" says Trump." Something to look forward to.
They could have inserted the poo emoji. Soon we'll only communicate in emojis anyway.
ReplyDelete😂
DeleteWhen my son was young - early grade school - his friend Bobby's mom would use H-E-double-toothpicks in conversation (hmmm, I guess enough that I remember this) and Bobby would turn around to anyone who was there to listen and matter-of-factly state: "It spells HELL." So much for sheilding the young'uns ears from the swears.
ReplyDeleteAnd my folks lived in Rockford. Years ago - at least 18 or 20 - there were a couple days a week they'd get both the Rockford newspaper and the Chicago Tribune delivered. My mom called me one day with an observation (and to share a laugh and eye-roll): In the comic strip Zits, teenager Jeremy was mowing the lawn. Unhappy about the chore, he was creating a message as he mowed. The strip's author must have received some pushback, so offered two versions to assuage the sensibilities of publishers worried about pearl-clutching. One version - I think I recall this one ran in the Rockford paper, interestingly - showed Jeremy mowing "This sucks" on the lawn; the Tribune ran the safer (and less funny/less real) "This stinks."
It's all so silly, isn't it?
When I was 14 years old, I was admonished for avoiding swear words, giving a listener the impression that I thought that I was better than the listener. Well, yes, I did consider myself a notch or 2 above those who went out of their way
Deleteto offend God and family by flinging curses and obscenities left and right, apparently bereft of the ability to communicate without using forbidden intensifiers.
Shortly thereafter, I found out that some of the priests responsible for teaching us the vocabulary, mannerisms and actions appropriate for our future priesthood, were likely as any other mortal to cry out, "Oh, shit," when they barked a knee or missed a put. Confused the hell out of me for a while. And eventually became irrelevant.
tate
tate: my husband was once a seminarian assigned to cafeteria duty. His classmate decided they needed a motto for their work. The motto was, "He knows the Faith", which in Latin was "fidum scic". I don't know much Latin, let alone variations in pronunciation, but apparently when Italian catholics pronounce the 2nd word, it is pronounced "shit". So be it.
DeleteYou'd appreciate Hugh Rawson's Dictionary of Euphemisms as well as today's NYT obit on Twain scholar Alan Gribben, who replaced 200 uses of the use of the word 'nigger' with 'slave' in editions of Tom Sawyer and Mark Twain. Granted, he wanted to get the backs back into schools, where it been banned becase of the original language....
ReplyDeletewait... is bullshit ok though?
ReplyDeleteI thought the phrase was “H E Double hockey sticks” as in “He was a H E double hockey sticks president: low food and gas prices, no wars and no insider trading.”
ReplyDeleteBack in the70’s when Paul Simon’s “Kodachrome” played on the radio, I heard the full lyrics (“when I think back of all the crap I learned in high school”). When I vacationed in California that summer, their radio station bleeped out “crap”. I chuckled that Chicago was more liberal than L.A.
ReplyDeleteAs I get older I am finding myself swearing a lot more! I’m 77 and I blame it on our current political climate and the 💩 heads in Congress That TV program that ran for several years “Designated Survivor” is starting to appeal to me as a way to clean house!
ReplyDeleteStill clearly remember visiting my cousins in suburban Detroit in the mid-Fifties, when I was eight and nine and ten years old. My aunt objected to our use of the H-word. "If you say the word HELL...you will end up going there!" she'd warn us. Thing is, Jews don't believe in either a heaven or a hell. Which reduces her warning to the status of an amusing childhood anecdote.
ReplyDeleteFar different story for Christians, natch. My wife did time in Catholic school...five years. Hell was very real to her as a kid, until after her father died when she was ten. Both she and her mother stopped believing in a God. For us, the only Hell is the little village in Michigan. We've been there...and back...a number of times.
And of course, there were plenty of snickers and giggles when the first letter burned out at the Shell gas station near my aunt's house. But not nearly as amusing as when my parents were living in Miami Beach in the 70s, and one of the middle letters stayed dark for many moons...atop the Hotel Di Lido.
As kids, we would spell it out: "H-E-double L" --never any mention of toothpicks. Far more common is the usage of "H-E-double hockey sticks"...because they're a lot more L-shaped than toothpicks are. Until you break the toothpicks.
While I'm not troubled by the name of your blog, I am aware that some folk would be, so when I want to share one of your columns on Facebook, I always share the Sun-Times version instead of sharing your Facebook post.
ReplyDeleteEvery Goddamn day is a loss without an Every Goddamn Day article.
ReplyDeleteA few years back, Ravinia gave a performance of Mass by Leonard Bernstein. A piece I've always enjoyed as aside from offering a different take on the Catholic Mass (I'm Jewish thus not all that well versed) is quite entertaining and melodic. This performance was taped for Channel 11. Maybe for other PBSers (at the time anyway) but don't know about the distribution. One of my favorite short phrases to hum on my own for many years and sing along to is as following: "And it was good brother, and it was good brother, and it was good brother, and it was goddam good." Well don't you know the decision was made by the TV producers, Ravinia, and well I don't know who else but "goddam good" was excised / sanitized(?) with something I can't even remember. Noting at least Bernstein's daughter was in attendance, maybe other family too, can't remember, but this family, estate or whoever owns the rights to this piece must have signed off.
DeleteI watched this on TV and as much as I love this piece, but was pretty offended and still think about how ridiculous this decision was.
"Language is a poor enough means of communication. I think we should use all the words we've got. Besides, there are damn few words that anybody understands. –Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind
ReplyDeleteIn Catholic grade school, one of the nuns told my friend that living with him must be like H - E - double hockey sticks. First - and possibly only - time I ever heard that used in a declarative way. Maybe we should start calling Trump's adviser Stephen M - I - double hockey sticks - E - R, though I have other words with which I prefer to refer to him.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of Marc Maron trying to get Bill Cosby to appear on his WTF podcast, back before we knew. Word got back to Maron that Dr Cosby didn't want to lend his name to or his presence to a show with such a vulgar name
ReplyDeleteI don't bother with the Tribune.
ReplyDeleteFor reasons I have difficulty articulating, I would have preferred Every Goddam Day.
ReplyDeleteMaybe because it sounds more resigned than outraged.
ReplyDeleteWe need new, fresh swear words. When an old lady like me routinely uses the F-word, especially in traffic, and children say it loudly out on the sidewalk with friends, the shock and cachet are gone. It's annoying in its overuse now.
ReplyDelete